Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford) returns home after spending four years in prison for a DUI which killed a young woman. His parents and younger brother live on a small island community with a struggling fishing industry. Father Paul (Hamish Linklater) takes over the Catholic parish after their longtime Monseigneur fails to return from the Holy Land. Dark and strange things are happening.
Mike Flanagan brought The Haunting of Hill House to Netflix. Now he has Midnight Mass. There are a couple of holdovers from his previous show. In this one, he is going all out with the Catholic faith. One can decry his slant on the church but one can also read his hope if one watches the show to the end. This has a few themes. In many ways, the horror aspect is subservient to the others. The mystery is not that big of a mystery. One can easily guess at it. Flanagan's big theme seems to be the corruptibility of organized religion but also the basic humanity within the religion's hopes. He's tackling guilt, death, blood, and sin. It's big hits of the Catholic song list. I can see this rubbing some people the wrong way. Also, it's a bit spooky but this is not a scary horror. More than anything, I like some of the long dialogue scenes that feel like listening to a sermon.
Mike Flanagan brought The Haunting of Hill House to Netflix. Now he has Midnight Mass. There are a couple of holdovers from his previous show. In this one, he is going all out with the Catholic faith. One can decry his slant on the church but one can also read his hope if one watches the show to the end. This has a few themes. In many ways, the horror aspect is subservient to the others. The mystery is not that big of a mystery. One can easily guess at it. Flanagan's big theme seems to be the corruptibility of organized religion but also the basic humanity within the religion's hopes. He's tackling guilt, death, blood, and sin. It's big hits of the Catholic song list. I can see this rubbing some people the wrong way. Also, it's a bit spooky but this is not a scary horror. More than anything, I like some of the long dialogue scenes that feel like listening to a sermon.